Charities at risk of revocation for failing to meet ACNC obligations

More than 2,000 charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) are at risk of losing their charity status, after failing to submit their annual reporting to the national charity regulator.

Registered charities must submit an Annual Information Statement to the ACNC, which contains information about their activities and operations. Charities that fail to submit two Annual Information Statements will have their charity status revoked – removing access to Commonwealth charity tax concessions.

ACNC Commissioner the Hon Dr Gary Johns says that charities have a responsibility to demonstrate transparency and accountability.

“The vast majority of charities registered with the ACNC have done the right thing, and met their obligations,” Dr Johns said.  “However, a small percentage of charities have failed to meet their requirements under the ACNC Act.”

These organisations will lose their registration as a charity if they do not submit their outstanding Annual Information Statements by 26 August 2019. Charities on the list are urged to take action immediately, and log in to the ACNC Charity Portal to complete any outstanding Annual Information Statements.

Dr Johns said the ACNC has made multiple attempts to contact the charities directly, but noted that some organisations’ may not have notified the ACNC of changes to contact details.

“We are now trying to share the message more broadly and reach as many of the affected charities as possible, to avoid unnecessary revocations,” he said. “If you are a Responsible Person for a charity listed, I urge you to take action immediately to retain your charity’s status. Additionally, if you are in contact with any of the charities listed, please encourage them to complete their required reporting.”

Information from the Annual Information Statements provided by charities is used to populate the ACNC Charity Register – the free, searchable database of Australia’s 57,000 charities.

Pearl Dy

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Pearl Dy is a community manager and journalist. She is passionate about business and development particularly involving not-for-profits, charity and social entrepreneurship.

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